“Construction work is expected to start soon on the waterway and we believe the Sitia route will be the first to operate on Crete,” said Hellenic Seaplanes vice president Mihalis Assariotis following discussions with local authorities.

“This clearly demonstrates that private investment is the fastest and most effective way for the licensing of waterways in Greece,” he added.

According to Hellenic Seaplanes, which aims to connect the Greek islands with the mainland via waterways, a total of 30 routes are in the process of licensing countrywide, with plans for most of them to be operational by 2015, allowing customers to travel across Greece via hydroplanes, breathing life into remote islands, opening new jobs in the tourism sector and strengthening ties between local communities.

“This is a project of national importance and we expect the prefectures and municipal authorities to contribute substantially and help to circumvent the delays so that we can soon have a sustainable waterway network in place that will give a new impetus to interconnecting Greece,” Hellenic Seaplanes president and CEO, Nicholas Charalambous, said.